The State police claim that the crime rate in the State has lowered nominally, an estimated 7.6 per cent.
The law enforcement has compared the crime statistics of 2012 with that of the previous year to arrive at the conclusion.
They say the number of murder, kidnapping, simple theft, cheating, and dowry-related crime cases registered a low, compared to 2011, along with offences relating to atrocities visited against the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes.
Law enforcement
The police claim that the lowering of the crime rate indicated an improvement of its law enforcement activities.
During the same period, the police registered a higher number of cases relating to violation of the Arms Act (mostly sharp-edged weapons and very few firearms), prevention of immoral traffic, railway rules, and violation of the law relating to harassment of women in the name of dowry.
The police claim that the higher registration of cases indicated their willingness to investigate complaints of all nature.
Registration of cases in Kerala was among the highest in the country during eh period.
Such a high number of registrations of offences could not be construed as an increase in crime rate, it said. The Kerala Police also registered a large number of cases on its own accord. In this regard, it was tailed only by Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh.
There was a nominal fall in the number of rape cases registered in 2012 compared to 2011.
The police initiated stringent measures to insulate women and children from crime. Women in Kerala were, arguably, more willing to approach the police than those in other States.
Hence, the numbers of cases in which women or children figured as victims or complainants were relatively high here.
Road accidents
The police say there was a marginal increase in the number of road accidents in the past two years. In 2012, as many 5,075 persons were killed in 36,174 accidents, compared to 4,145 deaths in 3,5216 accidents the previous year.
The State police attribute the increase in accident rate to congested roads and the almost exponential increase in the vehicle population in Kerala.
